That night, Xiao Bangchui slept very soundly. Her skin, washed with bath beans, felt fresh and clean; her hair, washed with egg white, was smooth and slippery. The bedding was soft and fragrant. In her whole life, she had never enjoyed anything like this.
From yesterday to today, in just one short day, her life had changed completely. Both her body and mind were exhausted to the limit. The moment she touched the bed, she fell into a deep, comfortable sleep without even dreaming.
The next morning, she woke up very early. Looking around the courtyard, it seemed the others had not yet risen. Xiao Bangchui happily took another bath in the pool. When she came out, she saw that breakfast had somehow already been placed on the table. There was thick rice porridge, with three small dishes beside it: a stack of scallion flatbreads, a plate of pickled vegetables, and a plate of dried tofu.
Paradise on earth!
Xiao Bangchui was so moved that she pinched herself hard. This was not a dream, right? This really was not a dream!
After breakfast, faint voices came from the courtyard. The others must have woken up too. Xiao Bangchui packed up her bundle and was just about to push the door open when she suddenly remembered something and looked down at her clothes.
She was still wearing that patched-up, ragged outfit. Although it had been washed clean yesterday, it was still torn and shabby. Today was the second selection. Wearing something this ragged did not seem very good, but she truly had no other clothes—apart from the gauze dress her master had bought for her.
She opened her bundle. The pink gauze dress was folded neatly at the very bottom. Perhaps because it had been pressed there for too long, there were a few wrinkles on it. Xiao Bangchui pressed the wrinkles flat with her hands. After hesitating for a moment, she finally took off her ragged clothes.
Her master had bought clothes without even checking her size. The dress was absurdly large. She tugged the hem, which dragged along the ground, up as hard as she could and tied it firmly with a belt. There was no mirror in the room, so she could only braid her hair by feel. Before she had even finished, someone suddenly knocked on the door.
“Xiao Bangchui, are you up?” Baili Gelin’s cheerful voice sounded from outside. “Don’t sleep in. Hurry up, let’s go look around.”
Xiao Bangchui quickly opened the door. Three or four people were standing densely packed at the entrance. The moment they saw her, the chattering voices abruptly stopped. There was dead silence.
With a thud, Lei Xiuyuan’s teacup fell to the ground. His whole body trembled, his face filled with shock, and his voice shook as he said, “B-Big Brother Xiao Bangchui?! What happened to you?!”
What did he mean, what happened? Xiao Bangchui lowered her head and looked at herself. Was there something wrong with her?
Baili Gelin suddenly screamed, “Why are you wearing women’s clothes?!”
“…I never said I was a boy.”
How was that possible?!
The children nearly fainted. Whether it was her words, behaviour, mannerisms, or even her appearance, she had nothing in common with a girl! Even now that she was wearing a dress, her dark face, thick eyebrows, and zombie-like expression all looked so strangely out of place!
Baili Gelin’s budding maiden heart was cruelly shattered. How could she be a girl? How could she! Yesterday, she had only just started thinking Xiao Bangchui was full of masculine charm, and today this sudden truth had smashed her dizzy. The person who had made her young heart flutter was a girl!
Was her being a girl really that terrifying? Xiao Bangchui was finally helpless. The others were one thing, but even Ye Ye and Baili Changyue looked shocked. Lei Xiuyuan, that crybaby, even had red eyes. She truly could not understand why he was about to cry.
“Everyone changed into new clothes,” she said, deciding to change the subject.
The sisters Gelin and Changyue had both changed into clean and tidy cloth clothes. Although plain, they were nothing like their beggar-like appearance yesterday. Ye Ye was also wearing a half-new cloth robe. Even Lei Xiuyuan had combed his hair neatly and changed into clothes with fewer patches. It seemed everyone attached great importance to today’s second selection.
Ye Ye recovered the fastest and immediately smiled. “Yes. There was nothing we could do for the first selection, but we can’t be that sloppy for the second one. Xiao Bangchui, this dress… looks nice.”
He thought for a long time before barely managing to come up with a compliment.
Baili Gelin laughed with a snort. “The dress looks nice, but it doesn’t look nice on her.” She made a face at Xiao Bangchui, then said, “You stupid girl, why didn’t you say earlier that you were a girl?”
Lei Xiuyuan finally returned to normal too. His eyes were no longer red, but his face had turned red. Shy and ashamed, he said softly, “Th-then I shouldn’t call you Big Brother Xiao Bangchui anymore… Sorry, I didn’t know before… Big Sister Boss Xiao Bangchui.”
…That sounded even worse.
“What Big Sister Boss?” Xiao Bangchui shook her head and walked straight ahead. “Just Xiao Bangchui is fine.”
Baili Gelin chased after her and hugged her arm. In the end, she was still young, and by now she had already forgotten the blow her maiden heart had suffered. She leaned close and whispered warmly, “Xiao Bangchui, your skin is dark. Next time, don’t wear pink. It makes you look even darker.”
Was that so?
“Then what colour should I wear?”
“Hmm, blue maybe? Your braid is crooked. Later, I’ll find a place and redo it for you.”
Although the truth that Xiao Bangchui was a girl had shocked everyone, children were always broad-minded. They soon forgot about it, and the group chatted and laughed as they went to look at the pear blossoms. Baili Gelin spent the whole morning holding Xiao Bangchui and teaching her secrets about hairstyles and clothing. Ye Ye and Lei Xiuyuan huddled together talking about who knew what. Baili Changyue, however, was nowhere to be seen. That girl did not like to talk, and she did things very much her own way. The two sisters’ personalities were worlds apart.
“I wonder what the second selection will be like,” Baili Gelin said, becoming nervous as soon as the topic came up.
“The first selection tested the extraordinary meridians and eight vessels, checking aptitude. Those with good spiritual roots could pass. I imagine the second selection will be an even stricter screening,” Ye Ye sighed. “After all, when it comes to cultivation, aptitude is still the most important thing.”
Aptitude…
Xiao Bangchui remembered that Daoist Dongyang had said her aptitude was average. And since she had never been able to learn mystic arts, perhaps even “average aptitude” was just something he had said to comfort her. In truth, she was probably very poor.
She also remembered the hoarse voice that had reminded her to hold her breath during the first selection. Although she still did not understand what had happened, she must have passed because she had held her breath. The black-veiled woman had even asked whether she had practised some secret art.
Without that voice, she probably would not even have passed the first selection, right? Why had holding her breath allowed her to pass? Her stomach was full of questions, but there was no one she could ask. She could only keep them buried in her heart.
A melodious bell echoed through the courtyard. Beneath the pear tree, a door suddenly appeared out of thin air. The female monster covered in blue-green scales appeared from who knew where and announced loudly, “We have arrived at Ruixue Cottage. Please disembark through this door.”
The children burst into noise.
They had arrived.
Ruixue Cottage.
The second selection was about to begin.
Several little boys occupied the doorway and pushed aside the other children who wanted to get off.
“Move! You lowly commoners, who dares get off first?”
As they were speaking, two people walked over calmly from behind. They were the boy in white who had been beaten yesterday and the phoenix-like little beauty. The boys guarding the door hurriedly moved aside. The white-clothed boy’s face was still a little swollen, but it was much better than yesterday. Today, he had deliberately changed into new clothes too: black hair, snow-white robes. Even at such a young age, he already had the elegant air of a handsome young gentleman.
“Dressed up like a person, acting like a dog,” Baili Gelin said disdainfully, rolling her eyes.
The white-clothed boy stepped slightly back and gestured politely for the girl to go first. “Guests from afar should be honoured. Commandery Princess, please go first.”
So that little beauty was a commandery princess?
The children were first in an uproar, then soon fell quiet. No wonder she was so beautiful and noble-looking.
The commandery princess smiled faintly. “Then I won’t stand on ceremony. Thank you.”
She was the first to step through the door. Her luxurious figure disappeared behind it in an instant, and the white-clothed boy followed closely after.
“Looks like the person Xiao Bangchui beat yesterday was either a little prince or a little imperial son,” Ye Ye suddenly laughed. “If this were outside, the trouble Xiao Bangchui caused would be enough to have nine generations of her family executed.”
“How do you know?” Baili Gelin asked.
“That girl is a commandery princess, yet he could walk before her. His status must be higher than hers.”
Xiao Bangchui was a little surprised. “People from the imperial family also have to cultivate?”
“Precisely because they are imperial family, they need to cultivate even more. To preserve their dynasty forever, their clan must have immortals guarding it. Lugong Town is within the borders of Yue. That boy in white should be someone from Yue’s imperial clan. The vassal state closest to Lugong Town is Zhaoyang, so that commandery princess is likely from Zhaoyang. That’s why he said guests from afar should be honoured.”
Xiao Bangchui rarely looked at Ye Ye with admiration. “…You know a lot.”
Ye Ye smiled casually. “When you’ve seen enough outside, you naturally know everything.”
It was obviously an evasive answer, but if he did not want to say, she would not force him.
Soon, everyone had gone out through that door. The moment Xiao Bangchui jumped down from the carriage, she felt an icy cold pierce to her bones and could not help shivering. All she could see was a vast expanse of white. They were actually on the snowy summit of a mountain. Goose-feather-like snow fell thickly and densely. Before long, the children’s heads were all white.
Xiao Bangchui trembled from the cold. She had not brought even a single winter coat. What a mistake. Looking back at the others, Ye Ye and the Baili sisters were already sitting cross-legged in the snow. Although their faces were blue from the cold, their expressions had eased considerably. Lei Xiuyuan, beside them, was wearing only patched single-layer clothes, yet he stood facing the wind and snow as though nothing was wrong. Some of the other children were meditating, while some had taken out winter clothes and put them on. Only she was jumping around from the cold like a monkey.
“Big Sister Boss Xiao Bangchui, are you very cold?” Lei Xiuyuan asked in surprise. “If you circulate your inner breath and spiritual energy, you can resist the cold.”
“Wh-what inner breath and spiritual energy…” Xiao Bangchui was so cold her tongue would not obey her.
“It’s hard to explain, but anyone with spiritual roots knows how to do it naturally. Don’t panic. Calm down and circulate your breath. Soon you won’t feel cold.”
Seeing her lips had turned purple from the cold, Lei Xiuyuan hurriedly took her hands and gently rubbed them. Her hands were practically like blocks of ice.
Xiao Bangchui felt as if the spear-like, knife-like wind and snow were about to tear her apart. What inner breath and spiritual energy? She did not understand it at all! Why was even Lei Xiuyuan, that crybaby, fine? Why was even that arrogant, tyrannical boy in white fine? Out of more than fifty people, she was the only one in such a miserable state.
Just as she was despairing, the hoarse voice suddenly sounded beside her ear again.
“Hold your breath.”
That old sir was still here?
Xiao Bangchui stiffly moved her eyes. Where was he? Why could she never see him?
“Hold your breath, idiot!” the hoarse voice said impatiently.
Xiao Bangchui held her breath. Gradually, whether because she had grown used to the cold or because holding her breath was really that miraculous, her body slowly stopped trembling.
“Exhale three times, inhale once. Breathe like this from now on.”
Was this a breathing method for cultivating inner breath? Why was it completely opposite to what her master had taught? If she exhaled that much, wouldn’t she suffocate?
“If you learn from these idiots, you won’t succeed even if you study until you die.”
After saying this, the hoarse voice stopped abruptly. There was no sound again.
Xiao Bangchui followed the breathing method he had taught her: exhale three times, inhale once. At first, her chest kept feeling tight, but for some reason, she quickly grew used to it. The bone-piercing cold no longer affected her at all. When the wind and snow scraped across her face, it actually felt like a gentle spring breeze.
Lei Xiuyuan noticed her hands slowly becoming warm. His eyes reddened with joy again. “Big Sister Boss Xiao Bangchui, you’re all right now? You scared me to death just now!”
Xiao Bangchui was not yet used to speaking with the new breathing method. After pausing for a while, she finally said, “I told you not to call me that. It’s awkward.”
“Th-then… Boss.” Lei Xiuyuan rubbed his eyes and looked at her with worship all over his face. He only remembered Xiao Bangchui’s heroic act of saving him. In the future, he also wanted to become someone as strong as Boss.
Xiao Bangchui looked around. At some point, the mountaintop had become packed with people. In mid-air, groups of rainbow deer carriages floated, and people were still continuously coming out of them. At a glance, there was a dense sea of heads.
So these were all the people from the Central Continent who had passed the first selection? Ye Ye had indeed been right. There were at least thousands upon thousands of people here. With this many people, how many would pass the second selection in the end?
Xiao Bangchui suddenly felt something stirring inside her bundle. A letter shot out from it like an arrow and hovered in front of her. It was an apricot-coloured envelope with several fingernail marks on it—the very one the black-veiled woman had given her after she passed the first selection.
As if pinched by an invisible hand, the envelope was torn open in one motion. The letter paper inside swiftly unfolded. Xiao Bangchui glanced over it roughly. Written on it were her name and age, and in the blank space below, three characters slowly appeared:
“Two-seven-six.”
Immediately afterwards, the letter paper and envelope turned to ash. A red light struck her wrist, and ancient characters, bright as cinnabar, appeared on her skin. They were exactly the three characters: “Two-seven-six.”
The raging snowy scene before her eyes rippled faintly like the surface of water. Suddenly, a small thatched hut appeared on the mountaintop. With a creak, the hut’s door opened by itself before everyone’s eyes. Inside the empty hut, there was nothing except a brazier filled with charcoal, burning silently.
**Nomad – Posting has now changed to 1 chapter every 2 weeks (Thursday) unless said otherwise. Chapter will be released every other Thursday at 6 AM GMT + chapter number. So chapter 9 will be posted 4th June 6:09 AM GMT. NU will be updated later on in the day or the next day. So it is best to check here for chapter updates**
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